Welcome to part 4 of the 'Saving Harry' series. I've loved the reviews & comments from so many of you asking that Fury be next. That wasn't the plan in my storyline, but hey – you ask, you receive. As I'm not glued to the timeline as to which character is next, it's an easy thing to switch out for later.

So, without further delay, I present part 4. Enjoy and drop me a review or message sometime. I'll respond eventually.

A response to several reviews: I've been unable to load this to in chaptered form. It glitches every single time, no matter what format I use. For this, I apologize. I will be posting on Archive of our Own very soon as well, as the format is far better for this.

Also, I've seen End Game. It's INSANE and about the best fan movie I've ever seen in my life. There will NOT be spoilers in this fic or going forward whatsoever, as it doesn't fit my timeline of where this series takes place, so rest easy.

Read, review and if you want updates, subscribe to my name, not the chapters, and you'll be notified every time a new chapter shows up.

This one took a little longer to post. I stressed a bit about the inevitable blending of MCU and HP worlds, what I was going to allow and how much plot I was going to wander in to. Alas, the characters keep butting in and Fury kept talking, and here we are.

Thanks for reading – I truly appreciate you dropping by!

Araine.

Saving Fury

Nick Fury was a cautious man. He had to be. As head of SHIELD, his responsibilities were greater than almost anyone else on the planet. He juggled secrets, Avengers, a Council that tried to order him around, secret societies, and a slew of other things that would have made anyone else a suicidal alcoholic.

As he was neither suicidal nor an alcoholic, his stress manifested in a few other ways. A severe lack of humour was one of them, at least to most who knew him. His visage was stern and unforgiving, the messed-up eye adding to the scowl.

For secrets, one of his biggest and weirdest was over in the corner, playing happily with a dump truck and making vrooming sounds. Even Nick couldn't help but be happy that the kid, who was so horribly miserable and terrified a few short days ago, was playing on his own without a care in the world. Unfortunately, or fortunately – depending on how he was thinking at the time – the kid was the biggest mystery he had on his roster at the moment. Nothing about him made sense, even for a wizard.

Then again, if he looked closely, the kid was stealing subtle glances at him. Every now and then, without breaking his vrooming, those green eyes would flick up and take a peek at him from under his messy hair. Fury wasn't a stupid man, and there was something else to that kid, something nearly familiar, only he just hadn't figured it out yet.

'Not so stupid, this kid,' thought Nick. 'He's in a corner, back to the wall and has a perfect view of every person in the room,' he mused to himself, and his brain was quite interested to see where the kid would be in a decade or so.

As the Avengers settled around the couches and jockeyed for position, Stark broke the silence. "Cap, Banner. Did either of you feed shortstuff over there?" The two Avengers in question shared a look and guilt flooded their faces. "Don't starve my kid, you asshats. He won't ask for food or anything else until he feels safer."

Tony stalked off to the kitchen grumbling, but within hearing distance. "Go on, Fury. I'll hear from here. Just saving the world, one starving kid at a time," and proceeded to bang pots and pans around until he found what he was looking for.

"You wanted information, now you can have it," Fury started. "There is activity in England as well, though Thor is on the planet and managing it. He'll be joining you guys again once he's done. He might even be able to help with this."

"Thor? He's here?" Tony queried. "And he didn't even phone." He looked over at Harry and saw that while the little boy was playing, he was keeping a wary eye on Fury. "Are we waiting for him then?" he asked as he stirred the soup, hoping it'd be edible.

"No," Fury clarified. "I'll leave that fun task to you Avengers."

Clint snorted. "Gee, thanks. Booming Thor and a kid who's terrified of big noises. Best idea ever."

"Deal with it, Barton." Fury had no patience today. He was in the middle of a spider's nest of the magical world, and what he'd been briefed on wasn't great. "Here's the info you need. There's more, but you don't need it. Not now, and frankly, I don't have it."

Fury stalked over to the counter and poured himself a coffee. "The wizarding world is messed up. They've put their entire hopes on a little kid and expect him to grow up and save them all."

"What?" asked Natasha incredulously. "If that's true, why the hell would we have hauled him out of a home where he was treated so terribly? I've seen damage, that kid was beyond damaged."

Steve, who'd been keeping quiet so far, chipped in. "Pliability."

"Big word, Spangles. Care to elaborate?" asked Tony, pouring heated soup in to a bowl and digging for the smallest spoon he owned. "J," he said sotto-voce. "Order some kid-sized eating stuff with whatever else you've got going."

"Already done, sir." Supplied Jarvis helpfully, and Tony went back to spoon hunting.

"No, I get it," said Bruce. "Pliability. Take someone who's going to be a big deal someday down the road, keep him beaten, submissive, and completely in the dark about who he is." His hands gestured, as he got on a train of thought. "Then, later on down the road, you rescue the kid from the very situation you put him in, and bingo – a perfect little puppet who hangs on your every word."

The entire Avengers crew looked at Banner as if he'd offered to buy a platypus for a treadmill. "Think about it, guys. We just got a mysterious letter from either the enemy or a friend of the kid who couldn't rescue Harry him or herself. There's something else going on here."

"Oh, there is," muttered Fury. "So, Harry there is Harry James Potter. If you guys remember, or not, the terrorist attacks about 3 or so years back in England, the kid's parents were in the thick of it." He paused to take a pull from his coffee as Tony went over to get Harry and brought him to the table to eat.

Fury watched the kid go with Tony and noticed something. "Stark. Ask him if his arm hurts still." Harry looked at Tony questioningly, not understanding.

Tony looked at Harry and sat on the floor and pulled Harry in to his lap. "Hey bud. You heard the Bossman. How's the arm? Still hurting?"

Harry held out the arm with the cast. "'Dis one?" Tony tickled him, eliciting a delighted giggle from Harry.

"No, silly rabbit. Your other broken arm." Tony grabbed his good arm and pretended to munch it and made growling noises, which set off Harry in to even more giggles.

"Nono!" giggled the little boy. "No tickles! Your face is scritchy!" and he dutifully held his bum arm up to Tony for inspection. "It don't hurt at all." He demonstrated by waving his arm about, nearly clipping Tony in the head.

"Magical healing?" asked Banner, ever the doctor. He watched Harry and Tony closely, and Harry shouldn't have been able to wave his arm about so soon after it being broken and cast a mere two days ago. The other Avengers were now taking notice, and even the ever-observant Natasha was mildly embarrassed that she missed such an obvious detail. Either the kid was faking it, or he healed fast.

Fury nodded. "Some magicals have the ability to heal a bit faster, they live longer and typically have few illnesses. They're immune to the common cold, for example. Potter there has displayed some serious power already, but no magical heals quite that fast, which is why he was targeted and his parents were mur…" Tony cleared his throat and interrupted Fury's next word.

"Marauders!" Harry supplied helpfully. "Pa'foot, Mooney, Pwongs and Wormtail!" and he kept on playing with Tony, who by now had stood (with joints cracking – he was getting too old to be sitting cross-legged on tile floors!) and was carrying Harry over to the table to get him to eat.

"Interesting words, for a little guy," said Clint. Steve frowned. The kid came up with the craziest things to say, but they probably meant something to him.

"Absolutely they do," Fury continued. Rogers didn't realise he'd said his thoughts aloud. "The Mauraders were his dad and his friends. One of them sold the kid's parents out, and he ended up at his aunt's, which is what brings us to today." Everyone's eyes darkened a bit at this, as they were all aware now of what probably happened in the custody of his relatives.

He took another deep drag of his coffee and continued. "I am bound by magical laws as to what I can and can't tell you. I'm already pushing it as it is. I originally was going to bury the kid in a SHIELD training program," the room erupted with this, and Fury put his hand up, "I said WAS! Simmer down. Was. Past-tense." Over in the kitchen, Tony did his best to keep Harry's ears away from hearing what was being said. With the soup slurping and occasional giggle, he hoped the kid didn't understand a damned thing.

Fury continued, "But that note has a very interesting signature to it. It's the same signature and writing that got us started on rescuing Potter in the first place. Pretty sure I know who it belongs to. He's tipped us off before and has yet to lead us wrong. He's not a good guy but not a bad guy either. He hasn't led me wrong yet and nearly got caught leading us to Privet Drive."

Natasha spoke up. "There was a man standing in the distance, just outside the wards you told us about. I couldn't get a good look at him in the dark, but he was quite tall, very thin and dark longer hair. I thought he was a neighbour, being that he was in a bathrobe of some kind."

Fury snorted. "Not a bathrobe. Robes. Wizard robes. The wizarding world is trapped in time, especially in England and much of Europe."

"Time, as in they don't move forward and never age?" queried Banner. "That doesn't make sense at all."

Fury sighed. "No. Time as in, they eschew all tech, completely. They don't live on power grids, they don't have computers or internet, use cars, and pretty much live the same as if it were pre-industrial age. Our scanners can't pick them up through their shielding."

Clint laughed as he heard Tony mutter, "Eschew? Did he really say 'eschew'? Oh, prithy, m'lord." Harry giggled around his soup spoon at his rescuer's silly face.

"Bottom line is, Potter's an anomaly. He's far stronger than any other known wizard alive at this time, as far as our informant can tell, and he would know. He's also been blatantly stubborn about us not making deals with this Albus Dumbledore, or even attempting to contact him. He's apparently a supposed White Wizard, behind the scenes leader of the British wizarding world, and Potter's magical guardian."

Fury stopped to take another pull of his coffee before dropping the bomb that would agitate everyone in the room. "He is the one who took Harry from his murdered parents' house and dropped him on the Dursley's doorstep in the dead of winter. Potter's godfather was locked up in a facility, being blamed for their murder and betrayal, the Dark Wizard who did the deed was killed by the little guy slurping soup at the table. He wasn't even 2 years old yet."

The room was silent in horror. Fury could see the determination and steel-eyed protection on every single face there. Wizard or not, Dumbledore would have a helluva time getting his paws on that kid. Even Stark had ceased goofing around with Harry and the Director knew that the genius was already designing new tech in his head.

"I know you all have a lot of questions. Quite frankly, I do too. I can't even begin to answer all of them. I simply don't know. Our informant, the writer of that note, is hard to connect with due to the lack of technology, but he shows up usually right when I need to pepper him with more questions. If I could have had him show up today, I would have."

Nick paused to let them absorb the huge amount of crazy he'd just dumped on their laps. "The wizarding world is powerful, like Harry there, though our informant admits that some of the things the kid has done is highly atypical. You all need to be on your guard. They're capable of pretty much anything and everything, which is how they've stayed hidden so long."

"I'll figure it out." Tony's determined declaration was reflected on his steely face. The goofball teasing Harry was gone and in it's place was the genius they all knew so well. "I'll figure out a way through their damned shielding and we'll end Harry's exile. That's what he is, isn't he? You've exiled him to us?" Tony's dark brown eyes were nearly black and Fury grinned. This is what he had been after from the start.

"Stark, whatever you want or need, ask. You'll have it. We've been able to do some research on this Dumbledore. He's about as light as Loki's heart and very powerful. SHIELD needs your tech now more than ever."

Tony smirked. He had a project. He loved nothing more than a project, and this one was the mother of all epic loot drops of projects. "I'll be in my lab. Make sure little fish is fed, watered, bathed, and kept busy. He won't ask for what he needs." The genius pushed away from the table, taking Harry's empty bowl and cup with him to put in the sink.

Steve volunteered to keep an eye on Harry, and Tony headed to the elevator. Harry got up and followed him causing Stark to stop for a minute and went back to Harry, kneeling down. He gathered the little boy up in a hug. "Hey little bit. I gotta go downstairs for a little while. Bossman there is gonna help us make sure you stay safe. You stay with Cap there and he'll show you his shield, alright?"

Harry nodded, but obviously wasn't too thrilled with Tony leaving. "You come back?" the little boy asked tentatively.

"Oh, little man, of course. I'm just going downstairs a little bit. It's not a good little boy place, no toys, very boring, but after the dangerous stuff is done, you can come down and meet Dum-E and U, okay? You'll like them. They're good boys too and help me."

Harry frowned at that. "I help you!" he declared boldly, then ducked his head on to Tony's shoulder. He still wasn't used to be allowed to speak up when he wanted to.

Tony smiled and lifted Harry's chin with a finger. "You help me more than you already know. You'll help me in my lab too, a little later, okay?" Harry nodded and tried not to cry. Crying wasn't allowed. "Good man. Go with Steve for a bit, and he'll bring you down later."

Harry turned and found that Cap was already there and was scooped up in the soldier's huge arms. Tony went to the waiting elevator and was gone. Bruce had walked over to the pair and it was decided that the trio would head down to medical to x-ray Harry's arm and see if it really had healed so rapidly.

Fury sighed as the three left to the medical lab. The damned kid grew on you, no matter what and he couldn't help but like him.

Fury turned around and found the entire room empty, meaning Barton had taken the opportunity to escape through the vent again, and Widow had disappeared as well. Fury found himself alone.

Damned Avengers. Damned kid. He chuckled to himself and left, plots and subplots roiling around in his head. He had a kid to protect and a wizard to tackle.

Just as he was about to step up to the arriving elevator, the doors opened, and he nearly ran face first in to Pepper Potts, Stark's CEO and whatever muddy relationship they had.

"Nick!" exclaimed Pepper. "It's delightful to see you, not that I can by much." Her arms were full of bags and boxes. Fury did the gentlemanly thing and helped offload some of the baggage.

"Successful shopping trip, I take it?" he asked, as he headed over to the living room.

Pepper laughed elegantly. "Well, if by successful, you mean following a very strange shopping list of things to buy for a toddler, then I would say so. I have no idea why though."

"Well, he's small enough for two, I suppose." Nick filled in. "But the kid is four. Just a very small four."

"Ah." Pepper clued in. "So this is your doing. A little boy in Avenger's HQ? Nick Fury, what on earth are you getting these guys in to?" Unloaded her parcels, she whirled around on the Director and gave him a look that could melt steel. "You have a child here, with a bunch of testosterone and assassins? And don't get me started on The Hulk!"

Fury started to back up. He'd not met Potts more than a couple of times and had forgotten that she had a formidable attitude. He guessed it came with the territory of managing one Tony Stark's life. "Now, just a minute Ms. Potts. This is special. Would you rather he be kept at SHIELD?"

"SHIELD? You can't keep a kid on a helicarrier!" Just as she was about to ramp up and really unload on Fury, she paused and started to laugh. "Oh. Oh, Nick Fury, that's just not fair." Nick full out laughed and Pepper joined him. "Fine. But you're not training a little boy to be the next Clint Barton."

And with that, she turned again on her Jimmy Choos, grabbed some of the parcels and started unpacking.

Nick knew better than most when to retreat, and retreat he did – straight to the elevator and left without another word.

Pepper sighed and started sorting through the items she bought, muttering the entire while about idiot Directors messing up little children.

She would have to inspect the situation for herself.